Author: Hovhannisian John

PanARMENIAN.Net

Indian songs and dances to be performed in Armenia
14.03.2009 16:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Indian Embassy in Armenia jointly with RA
Ministry of Culture have organized a tourney featuring performances of
Indian song and dance ensembles. Performers will travel through the
cities in Armenia, stopping at Goris Dramatic Theater on Mar. 15,
Yeghegnadzor Opera House on Mar 16, at Dilidgan Opera on Mar. 18, and
at Paronyan State Theater of Musical Comedy in Yerevan on Mar 20.

U-Azerbaijan-Russia-Radar.php

Russia says it wants to keep radar in Azerbaijan

The Associated Press

Published: March 12, 2009

BAKU, Azerbaijan: Russia wants to extend its lease of a Soviet-built
military radar in Azerbaijan after a current lease agreement ends, the
Russian foreign minister said Thursday.

Sergey Lavrov said on a trip to Azerbaijan that Russia would like to
continue using the early-warning radar in Gabala after the lease
expires in 2012.

He said Russia’s proposal to the U.S. to jointly use the facility to
monitor missile threats remains on the table. Moscow cast the 2007
proposal as an alternative to the U.S. plans to locate missile defense
sites in Eastern Europe, a plan Russia has fiercely opposed.

The administration of former president George W. Bush said the Gabala
facility was too old to defending against a threat from Iran –
Washington’s main argument for building the European system. U.S.
officials said that, even if they were to use the Russian radar, it
would not replace the planned U.S. missile defense sites in Poland and
the Czech Republic.

The missile defense dispute strained Russia-U.S. ties, and Barack
Obama’s election raised Moscow’s hopes that he would scrap the shield.

Obama has not said how he intends to proceed, but he has stressed the
system must be cost-effective and proven, and that it should not
divert resources from other national security priorities. He also said
he has told Russia that curbing Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons
would lessen the need for a U.S. missile defense system in Eastern
Europe.

The Gabala facility was built to track U.S. bombers and
submarine-launched missiles from the Indian Ocean to the south. Some
analysts say the radar has poor resolution data and will be near the
end of its useful life when the current lease ends.

Lavrov’s Azerbaijani counterpart, Elmar Mammadyarov, said Thursday
that the extension of the lease agreement isn’t on the agenda yet.

Harper’s Magazine
March 10 2009

Dick Gephardt, Labor and Lobbying

By Ken Silverstein

I posted an item last week about former House Majority Leader Richard
Gephardt, who had been very pro-labor during his long tenure in
Congress. I noted that he’s now a lobbyist at the Gephardt Group and
that he had recently signed up to represent the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, which is a leading opponent of the Employee Free Choice Act,
`which is the top legislative priority of Gephardt’s old friends in
the labor movement.’

Catherine Goode of the Gephardt Group emailed to say that the firm had
been `working for NBC and the Chamber’s coalition’a coalition that
includes labor’for intellectual property enforcement and protection
for over a year. Our work is not by any means anti-labor’they’re a
member of the coalition.’

It’s called the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy and you
can read more (including membership list) here. Last year the
coalition worked on a bill that was signed into law’Prioritizing
Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008 (aka
`Pro IP bill), passed by UC in the Senate and under Suspension in the
House. There were a zillion labor groups favoring the bill.

Fair enough. The item suggested that Gephardt might be working against
the interests of labor and that looks not to be the case.

I still think Gephardt’s post-congressional career looks uncomfortably
like that of Tom Daschle’s. (Among his current clients is Goldman
Sachs; according to the disclosure form he’s offering a hand on TARP.)
A 2007 account in CQ noted:

In 2003, Richard A. Gephardt cosponsored a resolution that put the
`Armenian genocide’ in company with the Holocaust and mass deaths in
Cambodia and Rwanda. In 2000, the Missouri lawmaker backed a similar
measure, and in a letter to then-Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.,
Gephardt said he was `committed to obtaining official U.S. government
recognition of the Armenian genocide.’

Now Gephardt is a foreign agent lobbying on behalf of Turkey, and he’s
got a different view of the world. He’s working to stymie the latest
version of an Armenian genocide resolution.

For a broader look at Gephardt’s lobbying efforts, check out this
article from the Washington Post.

Most people know that life after Congress can be very lucrative, and
it certainly has been for Gephardt, 66, who just built a house in
Sonoma County, Calif. But few people know what that work entails. In
Gephardt’s case, it involves an astonishing array of projects. He has
brokered labor settlements, cleared the way for corporate
acquisitions, represented a foreign country and pushed for
cutting-edge health programs ‘ only some of which fit the stereotype
of lobbying, the former lawmaker and his new colleagues say.

531

AZG DAILY #42, 11-03-2009

Culture Update: 2009-03-11 00:45:26 (GMT +04:00)

LITERATURE ` LASTING VALUE OF THE NATIONS AND PEOPLES

By Marietta Makarian, translated by L.H.

Armenian-Iranian 3rd literary-cultural conference on March 10-13

Armenian-Iranian centuries-old friendly relations have developed
almost in all spheres. Many things unite the two peoples, including
national essence, national peculiarity in this chaos. Cultural
heritage strengthens the history of centuries and makes it to
continue. "Armenia-Iran; literary and cultural bridges" conference
started in 2004 is a demonstration of the above-mentioned. The third
stage of the conference took place yesterday at the conference-hall of
the Union of Armenian Writers.

The first meeting of the conference was cognitive. The next meeting
that was held in Spahan (Iran) in 2006 marked new ways of cooperation.

"The conference, initiated by the Armenian Ministry of Culture, Union
of Armenian Writers and the cultural center of the Iranian Embassy to
Armenia, will add a new page and open a new door in the cooperation
programs", Chairman of the Union of Armenian Writers Levon Ananian
said in his welcome speech.

Iranian Ambassador to RA Seyed Ali Saghaan, representative of the
Armenian Ministry of Culture Karo Vardanian, Pr. Vrej Parsadanian and
others welcomed the guests.

Accredited Ambassadors of different countries in Armenia,
intellectuals, lecturers, and other guests participate in the works of
the conference.

In the course of four days five writers ` poet Mohammad Reza
Abdolmalekian, prose-writer Reza Amirkhan, children’s writer Ahmad
Reza Yusef, dramatist Abbas Jhangirian and literary critic-translator,
poet Azat Matian will present the translations of the two peoples’
literary works

Four round-tables will be held to discuss maintenance and transmission
of historical and spiritual literature, and also presentation of the
modern literature through translations.

OSCE says Armenia’s acting economic model vulnerable?

YEREVAN, March 9. /ARKA/. Though isolated from the global economic
system, Armenia’s model of economy is rather vulnerable, Head of the
OSCE Yerevan Office Ambassador Sergey Kapinos said during last week’s
conference Crisis: Russian and Armenian Versions.

`We should take for granted the Armenian government’s efforts to
neutralize the negative impact of crisis,’ Kapinos was quoted saying.

He stressed the importance of Armenia’s efforts to open borders with
Turkey.

Touching upon the country’s increasing dependence on private
remittances from Russia and imports dominating over exports, the
ambassador said: `Swelling, due to several factors, it is harming the
real sector of Armenia’s economy.’

Summing up the current situation in Armenia, the ambassador said
Armenia’s economy is making strides to boost industry and open new
employment opportunities in exporting countries, not in its own
country.`0–

Panorama.am
15:50 07/03/2009

WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL DAY ` MARCH 8

Women’s international day ` March 8 is celebrated in the whole
world. It is also celebrated by the United Nations Organization and is
a national day in many countries.

Started as a political event, the holiday blended in the culture of
many countries. In some celebrations, the day lost its political
flavor, and became simply an occasion for men to express their love to
the women around them.

By urban legend, women from clothing and textile factories staged one
such protest on 8 March 1857 in New York City. The garment workers
were protesting against very poor working conditions and low
wages. The protesters were attacked and dispersed by police. These
women established their first labor union in the same month two years
later.

In this regard celebrations are sent to our beloved women from the
Supreme Patriarch of All Armenians, Defense Minister, Chairman of
National Assembly wishing them all the best and love.

Source: Panorama.am

TURKEY, ISRAEL IN SECRET TALKS FOR SWIFT END TO DIPLOMATIC CRISIS – REPORT

Hurriyet
March 4 2009
Turkey

Israel and Turkey have been involved in quiet but intensive talks to
end the "crisis" between the two countries, Haaretz daily reported
on Thursday.

Officials from both countries have exchanged messages regarding "the
need to restore relations to an even keel and hope to do so in the
coming days," a senior Jerusalem source told the daily.

Ankara’s harsh criticism against Israel’s military operations and
the angry exchange of words between Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan
and Israeli President Shimon Peres have strained ties between the
two traditional and historic regional allies.

In the latest incident, Ground Forces Commander Avi Mizrahi said in
February that Erdogan "should first look in the mirror", and accused
Turkey of "committing a massacre of Armenians, as well as suppression
of the Kurds".

The senior government official told Haaretz that the positive
messages have intensified after Israel wrote to the Turkish prime
minister’s office and the Turkish military telling that Mizrahi had
been reprimanded for criticizing Erdogan during a lecture.

The exchanged messages followed a letter sent by Turkish President
Abdullah Gul to his Israeli counterpart Peres a few weeks ago, in
which he expressed the desire to visit Israel in the coming months.

Gul, who postponed a planned regional visit in January that included
Israel because of an ear complaint, is expected to be in the Jewish
state during the second half of the year.

TURKISH NATIONALIST MOVEMENT PARTY NOMINATES ARMENIAN CANDIDATE FOR ELECTIONS FOR THE FIRST TIME

APA
March 3 2009
Azerbaijan

Istanbul-APA. Turkish Nationalist Movement Party has nominated an
Armenian candidate for elections for the first time, APA reports
quoting Turkish news agencies.

MHP nominated Haco Kelesh for membership of Bakirkoy municipality
in Istanbul. Kelesh said that they considered themselves as Turkish
citizen, not national minorities.

"I received the proposal of MHP assessing that it will be a positive
step to play a role in cross-cultural dialogue and express ourselves,"
he said. Esra Bijik, candidate for the post of chairmanship in
Bakirkoy municipality said that everybody knew her position on
national minorities.

"Irrespective of religion, language, race, everybody has an equal
right in Turkey. We should move forward to establish Turkey, where
we can share our happiness not grief," she said.

Municipal elections will be held no March 29.

US CONGRESS SHOULD END THE RECOGNITION DEBATE

Hurriyet
March 2 2009
Turkey

ISTANBUL – With a fresh resolution calling on the United States to
formally recognize the Armenians’ claims of "genocide"looming on the
horizon, the US Congress should not repeat the same cycle of events
if an Armenian-Turkish rapprochement is desired, according to a
Newsweek article

While Washington gears up for another debate on the Armenian claims of
"genocide", the U.S. Congress should pay attention to rising optimistic
voices from Ankara and Yerevan toward rapprochement, according to a
Newsweek article.

The article "How to End a Genocide Debate" noted that that since 1984,
the U.S. Armenian lobby pursue the same course of action in what the
author called the "Armenian Genocide Resolution Spectacular." According
to this "historical plotline," first the U.S. Armenian lobby convinces
a few U.S. congressmen to sponsor a resolution recognizing the Armenian
claims of "genocide". Next the Turkish government steps in saying
that Turkey is too important to be insulted in this way, followed by
the U.S. administration "recognizing that Turkey is indeed a critical
NATO ally whose Incirlik Air Base is vital to the Iraq mission," and
then "twisting congressional arms to abandon the resolution." In the
meantime, the Israeli lobby keen to boost Turkish-Israeli relations
–although not so much this year — noted the author, works against
the resolution. Finally Congress "reluctantly shelves the whole thing
and the curtain falls."

Progress possible

The article said this year, however, there was a new twist in the
plot: diplomatic efforts between Turkey and Armenia. "Progress has
been possible because the Armenians have focused on the concrete
issue of opening the Armenian-Turkish border and both sides have
wisely avoided the genocide dispute surely recognizing it will have
to be dealt with eventually but that developing economic ties will
make it easier to do so," the article argued.

The Armenian diaspora, however, has been insistently lingering in
the background. As no Turkish government will be able to consider
opening the Armenian border with the "genocide" claims front and
center, Congress should realize that such a resolution would block
any attempt of normalization between the two countries, Newsweek wrote.

Common ground

"To those aiming for reconciliation, two questions outrank it: what
common facts can Turks and Armenians be brought to accept, and is
the common ground sufficient for both sides to start binding up the
wounds," said the article, noting that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan’s proposal to establish a joint historical commission should
be pursued.

The U.S. Congress could help reconciliation "if it is willing to
deny the Armenian-American lobby the instant gratification of a
genocide resolution. Doing so would be far better than repeating the
exercises of the last 25 years over and over again until a resolution
finally passes and all the House’s leverage over Turkey evaporates,
along with most of the goodwill in the Turkish-American alliance,
and maybe even the alliance itself," said the article.

Good relations between Turkey and Armenia would further U.S. objectives
in the Caucasus, noted Newsweek. "The proposed hydrocarbon corridor
through the Caucasus looks much more secure in the context of
Turkish-Armenian friendship and it might give Armenia the confidence
to break with the status quo in the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute."

Panorama.am
16:14 28/02/2009

Ararat. «¦one cannot imagine a more impressive center of Universe»

The frozen top of the mountain proudly towers over Araks river
valley. The location is veiled with mysteries and is the cradle of
biblical stories. According to the Bible it was Ararat that first
appeared from the subsiding waters of the Flood, becoming the first
landing place of the dwellers of Noah’s Ark.

For centuries Mt. Ararat has been considered an unconquerable
summit. Mystery intertwined with real perils here: frequent
avalanches, thick fog, rock slides, and temperature perturbations. In
1829 the 37-year-old German professor Johann Jacob von Parrot reached
the impregnable summit from the third attempt. In memory of this he
put a wooden cross there. When he looked around from the top of the
mountain, he said: «If this is really the place where man first set
his foot¦.then one cannot imagine a more impressive/dramatic center of
Universe».

Ararat arouses admiration in everybody who is lucky enough to behold
this mountain in all its beauty and magnificence. And despite the fact
that today this mountain is in Turkey, Armenians still consider it as
their sacred mountain.

Ararat view is a musical video-film with original music. The film
features various views of Mt. Ararat. The DVD also includes a bonus `
a short film about the conquest of the peak by a group of Armenians.

ARARAT (Arm. ` Masis) is the highest volcanic massif on the Armenian
Highland situated in the East of Turkey, near the border of Armenia
and Iran. It consists of two, merging at the bases, cones of extinct
volcanoes of the Great Ararat (alt. 5165m) and Little Ararat
(alt. 3925m).

Source: Panorama.am